Photothermal therapy (PTT) using near-infrared-resonant nanomaterials has gained great attention in recent years (1-4). To date, most photothermal conducting agents have been based on various gold (Au) nanostructures, including nanoshells, nanorods, nanocages, and gold sulfide nanoparticles (5, 6, 7-10). Among them silica-core Au nanoshell have advanced into clinical trials under the brand name Aurolase (11-13). Multifunctional probes with both therapeutic functions and imaging capabilities (e.g., magnetic resonance imaging) have also developed (14-18). However, various challenges still exist. For example, the size of Au nanoshells is too big to effectively target to tumor tissue (15). So intratumor injection of nanoparticles has to be used (5). And gold nanorods may be destroyed after laser irradiation due to the “melting effect” (19). While for the development of multifunctional probes, multiple steps are needed to prepare these nanoparticles.